Dhrubajyoti Shiva
Agartala, 30/06/2012
Agartala, 30/06/2012
One of the most flamboyant members of the UPA – II cabinet, Union RD minister Jairam Ramesh today held a regional meeting on Rural Drinking Water Programme with top officials of the North Eastern states at Pragna bhavan.
Later he addressed a press meet where he expressed satisfaction over the 90 % coverage of Aadhar in Tripura. From now on wage payments will be made and distribution of scholarships will also take place as per Aadhar scheme. But he did not have any qualms in terms of stating that Aadhar is not a magic formula or silver bullet as it will only act as a tool. Aadhar on its own will not provide any solution, he claimed.
Besides Aadhar the rest of the population will be covered as per data of the National Population Registrar. Turing down the demand for increase of MGNREGA man days from 100 to 200 he said on an average pan India 47 man days work has taken place. Hence this demand in pointless It is in Manipur that over 30 % households have been covered by MGNREGA. The focus is on creation of permanent assets and now we have allowed MGNREGA work to take place on private land too.
In an important announcement he said that at a cost of 50 crores an international centre of arsenic will come up in Kolkata. He lamented over the fact that states have problems in terms of submission of utilization certificates and also audited statements which in turn hamper release of funds.
Mr Ramesh also announced that in a major concession for Tripura all habitations having a population of over 250 will be allocated funds . Besides he also hinted at providing additional funds for upgradation of 800 KM rural roads in the state. Regarding the important decisions taken at the high level meeting he said that at the review meeting an important decision that will usher in social revolution in the country was taken .
It was decided that within one year three North Eastern states including Tripura will become open defecation free. North East has to show the way to the rest of the country in this regard, he opined. Within the next six months hydro morphological maps will also be in place for the entire North East. Over Rs 1000 crores was spent in the North East last year alone under various RD schemes and from now on allocation sanitation scheme under RD ministry will be in the 90 : 10 proportion from the 70 : 30 dispensation now in place. Pix - (Bapi Roy)